Quantum Times

Featured - Researchers discover new way of producing electricity (page 2)

Phenomenon causes powerful waves of energy to shoot through carbon nanotubesA team of scientists at MIT have discovered a previously unknown phenomenon that can cause powerful waves of energy to shoot through minuscule wires known as carbon nanotubes. The discovery could lead to a new way of producing electricity, the researchers say.The phenomenon, described as thermopower waves, "opens up a new area of energy research, which is rare," says Michael Strano, MIT's Charles and Hilda Roddey Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering, who was the senior author of a paper describing the new findings that appeared in Nature Materials on March 7. The lead author was Wonjoon Choi, a doctoral student in mechanical engineering.Like a collection of flotsam propelled along the surface by waves traveling across the ocean, it turns out that a thermal wave ? a moving pulse of heat ? traveling along a microscopic wire can drive electrons along, creating an electrical current.The key ingredient in the recipe is car

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